


Bloom Softly

by inelegantly (Lir)



Series: SASO 2015 Fills [15]
Category: Love Live! School Idol Project
Genre: Alternate Universe - Flower Shop, Challenge: Sports Anime Shipping Olympics | SASO 2015, F/F, Language of Flowers, Wordcount: 100-2.000
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-06
Updated: 2015-09-06
Packaged: 2018-04-19 07:24:25
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,648
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4737722
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lir/pseuds/inelegantly
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nozomi is a frequent customer at the flower shop where Eli works. She always makes a purchase, and always asks Eli about the meanings of the flowers she buys. Eli might not be an expert on the language of flowers, but even she can deduce the message spelled out through Nozomi's garden, when Nozomi finally entices her into visiting.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Bloom Softly

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Icie](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Icie/gifts).



> This was written for the second bonus round of the 2015 [Sports Anime Shipping Olympics](http://sportsanime.dreamwidth.org), where the theme of the round is AUs. The prompt I am working from was, "Flowershop au where Nozomi is getting into the meanings of flowers and Eli works at the shop and doesn't know nearly enough for her purposes but would like to help anyway. end result involves lots of red roses and the meaning there of."
> 
> I managed to write a flower shop AU that doesn't take place inside the shop at all, but I had so much fun with the flower language and in my heart, it's true to the _ideal_ of a flower shop AU anyway. 
> 
> (Yes, the title is in reference to a line from Garden of Glass, which I hope was well-translated because goodness knows I have little ability to fact-check it.)

-

Nozomi meets Eli at the door, with a smile dawning warm across her face and flowers already twined into the plait of her hair. Her hands come up to help support the box Eli is balancing, which only earns her an arch, questioning look for her troubles. 

"They're for me," Nozomi says. "The least I can do is help." 

"What do you think I do with every other delivery I make?" Eli asks. "I can balance a box of plants on my own." 

"I don't know," Nozomi says, "I've been trying to get you to come by for ages just so I could find out, but you're never the one they send with the deliveries." 

Eli stops, her hands faltering just enough on the box that for a single moment, Nozomi can feel its weight supporting itself on her palms. But then Eli shakes her head and pulls the box back, and Nozomi makes no effort to prevent her from drawing it away. 

"Do you remember what these mean?" Nozomi asks, reaching up to touch one of the stems wound through her hair with her freed-up hands. 

Eli's eyes narrow for a moment, thoughtfully, scanning over the waxy white petals of the daisies Nozomi has taken the time to wind into her braid. "Innocence," she says after a moment. "I do know that one." 

Nozomi smiles at her, and Eli shakes her head, even as her lips are curling to smile back.

"You shouldn't advertise so falsely," she says. "There's nothing innocent about the way you think at all." 

"Maybe not," Nozomi says. "But I did want you to come and see the garden, that much is true." 

"Is that where you'd like these?" Eli asks, nodding down at the individual planters nestled in the box, each with a gladiolus inside just starting to bloom. 

"I'll show you the way," Nozomi says, slipping out of the door and sliding past Eli, light on bare feet as she leads the way around the little house. She can feel the moistness of the earth underneath her heels, her steps light and quick until she pauses to unlatch the garden gate. 

"I'm not here to see the garden," Eli reminds her, gently. "I have to get back to work after this." 

"Oh, take a moment," Nozomi says. "Maybe there was traffic. Or a minor accident. The store can do without you for more than fifteen minutes. And." She glances back at Eli, as she gestures for Eli to walk before her into the small fenced-in yard. "Those aren't really for me." 

"These aren't?" Eli asks, as she steps past Nozomi when she's bid to precede her. "If they aren't, please do tell me why I've brought them to your house." 

"They are for my garden," Nozomi says, temporizing. "But they're also for you." 

"Hmm?" Eli hums, an inquiring note in her voice as she shifts the box to rest against her side. "Most people, they buy a girl a bouquet, not a box of live flowers which they then ask the girl to drive with across the city." 

"Gladiolus," Nozomi says, glossing right over Eli's complaint. "What does that one mean?" 

Eli's eyes go wide for a moment, and then she's shaking her head even as she tries to keep her mouth from smiling. "I know that one, too. Strength of character." 

"So, like I said," Nozomi points out, gesturing toward a nearby garden bench in indication that Eli might set down the heavy box. "They're for you." 

Eli's expression softens underneath the unapologetic weight of Nozomi's stare, before she slowly, slowly turns to set down the box of planters. Nozomi watches the curve of her spine as she bends, watches the way Eli's ponytail bobs to one side as she leans down and bounces back up again when she rises. Nozomi steps forward, and her hand falls against Eli's shoulder. Eli turns into the touch, like she's expecting it. 

"I don't know why you think that," Eli says, softly. "I may be strong enough to carry a box of flowers, but I've hardly proven anything to you." 

"You don't have to," Nozomi says, leaning forward so that their noses nearly brush, and their foreheads touch. "I figured it out all on my own." 

She kisses Eli, light on the mouth like she doesn't dare to take more than a taste, her hand sliding from Eli's shoulder down to catch at Eli's wrist. Her fingers wrap around Eli's hands, hold them tight when Eli kisses her back. It's faltering at first, uncertain, before Eli's mouth blossoms with a smile pressed to Nozomi's lips, as the kiss blooms into something warm, and bright, and sweet. 

"I wanted to show you my garden," Nozomi whispers from only inches away, secretive and smiling. "Come on." 

She dances Eli back past newly-turned plots of earth, empty save for the plastic markers Nozomi has stuck into the soil as reminders of their contents. She leads Eli past the daisies and coneflowers, past hydrangea bushes and bushes of summer lilac, twirls her around in front of the sunflowers whose stalks haven't yet reached their full heights, whose future blossoms are still clenched shut like fists, twirls her until Eli laughs and notices them and whispers back "adoration," then once more so she'll know Nozomi means it more than the flowers do. 

They stop in front of the rose bushes at the center of the garden, all of their blooms vivid red against the green backdrop of their leaves, and Nozomi drops Eli's hands in order to step toward them. 

"One more," she says, nodding toward the bushes. "What are these?" 

Eli folds her arms, mouth quirking in that way she has that's right at the heart of Nozomi's falling in love with her in the first place. Nozomi looks at her, and sees someone so full of a warmth that she dams up behind a fragile facade built out of some vague desire to hold herself remote. It shines through anyway, as bright on Nozomi's skin as the sun.

"Passionate love," Eli says, and slips, letting the smile spread across her face. 

"Those are for you, too," Nozomi says, catching Eli's hands again and pulling her in for a deeper kiss. 

She hasn't planned it, exactly. Nozomi has tried for weeks to bring Eli to her garden, laying the groundwork with visits to Eli's flower shop and bridging the distance with so many orders that would give Eli the excuse to come by for a visit. She's poured all her energy into getting to this place, standing among greenery under the open sky and heat of the sun, with Eli's hands curled against hers and Eli's smile captured under her lips. 

Nozomi coaxes Eli down onto the grass between the flowerbeds with an ease that surprises her. Eli's calm compliance is unexpected, new, is a fragile thing like the tender shoots of new plants first poking out of the soil. Eli's elbows bump against the ground and their lips break apart and Eli laughs, laughs so the sound ripples through Nozomi and she can feel Eli's delight underneath her skin like it's one with her own. Nozomi kisses her again, fast on the mouth, each motion brief with her excitement as she curls over Eli. 

There's too much warmth in her to contain it and she has to pour it out, overflowing onto Eli with a smattering of little kisses — pressed to her cheek, and her temple, and her jaw, dropped against the point of her nose and the arch of her eyebrow, then against her chin with only the lightest of pecks. Eli laughs again and the sound is music. 

Nozomi rolls her over, so that Eli sprawls against her chest and the sound of her laughter is warmer on Nozomi's skin than an entire day of full sun. It heats her blood to a building simmer, filling her up with fond intention until she rolls Eli again, splaying them both on the grass before the gardenias. She ducks her head, pressing her lips to the space just under Eli's jaw, to the line of her throat, to the spot where neck meets shoulder and out along her collarbone with a peppering of fervent kisses. 

Her fingers tuck into the waistband of Eli's skirt before she leans up, meeting Eli's eyes. They're soft with affection, lit up to a blue more vibrant than the cloudless sky wheeling back over their heads and sharp enough that the look feels like a dare. Nozomi meets that gaze, with a look that's less asking for permission, more stating her intentions. 

She slides down Eli's body, fingers dragging light over Eli's breasts and curling along her sides, catching at her hips and squeezing with fond appreciation. She pushes Eli's skirt to her waist and kisses up the insides of Eli's thighs, capturing the tiniest of their trembles with her lips against Eli's skin. She breathes in, relishing in the scent of newly-turned soil and clean soap and _Eli,_ hot and familiar before Nozomi presses her mouth to the crux of Eli's thighs and curls her tongue up to taste. 

She listens as Eli's periodic little giggles fall away into soft gasps, listens for the way Eli's voice rises in exultation before her hips roll down against Nozomi's mouth. Her back curls up from the grass like a flower unfurling and Nozomi catches her, persists until her gasps turn into whines turn into sharp, overwhelmed cries before she melts back against the earth, limp and languid. 

Nozomi slides back up to cup Eli's face, shadowed underneath the flowers that are shading them, and plucks one of the gardenias to tuck in Eli's hair. She kisses Eli again after that, slow and sure and without a word, because she no longer needs the language of flowers to express her joy for her. 

-

-


End file.
